LIFESTYLE

Jan. 14 is Christa McAuliffe Day

Staff reports

Jan. 14 is a celebrated as Christa McAuliffe Day. McAuliffe was a teacher who became an astronaut, and is remembered for her being on board the Space Shuttle Challenger.

On Jan. 28, 1986, a space shuttle called the Challenger took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On the shuttle was a high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire named Christa McAuliffe. She was selected from hundreds of thousands of applications to be the first teacher from the U.S. who would go into space.

But McAuliffe would never make it there. The Challenger broke up 73 seconds into its ascent, killing all seven passengers on board. It was a sad day for the nation, as many people were watching the launch on TV from their homes across the country.

Since that day, McAuliffe has been honored for her bravery in many ways. She was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004, has a planetarium and several schools named in her honor and even has a crater on the moon named after her. She is also remembered on the anniversary of the Challenger’s launch, 25 years ago this month.